Scotland beat England by 6 runs.

Calum MacLeod celebrates his century against England. (Photo Source: Twitter)

The stage was all set the picturesque venue at Edinburgh for the one off ODI between the hosts Scotland and the visitors England. The match meant different worlds to both the involved sides. The Scots had narrowly missed out on making it to the ICC World Cup 2019 in the recently played Qualifiers in Zimbabwe. They lost by 5 runs in a crunch game against the Windies to crash out of that tournament. Hence, this game against England was all about proving their mettle to the cricket world.

They rarely get opportunities to rub shoulders with the big boys and this was one of those. Last year, they had beaten Sri Lanka and that gave a lot of confidence to the Scotland side. On the other hand, the match marked as the international season opener for the England side. They embark on a journey to put their hands up at the WC 2019. And to do well in the marquee tournament, their journey to find the permutations began from this match.

The fans were treated to an absolute run fest in the match. England won the toss and opted to bowl first. In walked Matthew Cross and Kyle Coetzer to open the innings for Scotland. The two openers showed great temperament to see out the English new ball bowlers. They added a firm 103 run stand for the first wicket before both the openers perished in the space of 9 deliveries.

Adil Rashid dismissed Coetzer on 58 that came off 49 deliveries, and it was Liam Plunkett who took the wicket of Cross on 48 off 39 balls. The English team believed that they had crawled back in the game but that was not to be. Calum MacLeod, the most consistent batter in Scots lineup in the recent times, joined hands with Richie Berrington to rally the innings along.

While Berrington struggled for his 54-ball 39, MacLeod looked in sublime form with the bat. Berrington was dismissed by Plunket in the 30th over as the Scots crossed the 200-mark. MacLeod found ideal support from George Munsey as the innings reached the final stages. Munsey scored a quick 55 off 51 deliveries. But the star of the innings was Calum MacLeod who went on to score his 7th ODI ton. He remained unbeaten on 140 off just 94 deliveries with 16 fours and 3 sixes as Scotland finished with a mammoth 371/5 in 50 overs.

The run chase was going to be tough. But if there is a side in international cricket that could overhaul this target, then it was England. England got off to a flying start with Jason Roy and Jonny Bairstow going all guns blazing up front. While Roy scored 34, Bairstow went on to play the lead role. Bairstow smashed a 53-ball hundred to bring life to the run chase. The openers added 129 runs in just 76 balls for the visitors.

Roy was dismiised by Mark Watt, and Richie Berrington accounted for the wicket of Jonny Bairstow. Alex Hales also joined the party with 52 to his name, albeit on a sluggish note. Joe Root (29) did not find his feet going either. Scotland got back in to the game with sudden flurry of wickets. At 276/7, England looked struggling in the chase. But Moeen Ali and Liam Plunkett went on to add 71 runs for the 8th wicket to take the score in the proximity of 350.

Watt struck again to dismiss Moeen on 46 in the 46th over. The game went till the penultimate over with the visitors needing 11 off 12 balls. Safyaan Sharif managed to run out Adil Rashid on the first ball of the over to bring the last man in. On the fifth ball of the same over, Sharif caught Mark Wood lbw to create history. Plunkett remained unbeaten on 47 at the other end as Scotland registered a 6 run win and joyous scenes erupted on the field.